The Executed: A Glance at 10 Key Texas Executions

Texas has executed 500 people since 1976.

Charlie Brooks, No. 1 - HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Texas has executed 500 people using lethal injection since the Supreme Court in 1976 cleared the way to resume executions in the United States. The execution total in Texas is by far the largest in the country. Here are 10 noteworthy executions since that ruling.Dec. 7, 1982: Charlie Brooks, No. 1, the first Texas inmate executed after the Supreme Court in 1976 reinstated the death penalty. Brooks also was the first U.S. prisoner to die by lethal injection. He abducted and killed a Fort Worth car lot employee during a test drive.(Photo: AP Photo, File)

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Charlie Brooks, No. 1 - HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Texas has executed 500 people using lethal injection since the Supreme Court in 1976 cleared the way to resume executions in the United States. The execution total in Texas is by far the largest in the country. Here are 10 noteworthy executions since that ruling.Dec. 7, 1982: Charlie Brooks, No. 1, the first Texas inmate executed after the Supreme Court in 1976 reinstated the death penalty. Brooks also was the first U.S. prisoner to die by lethal injection. He abducted and killed a Fort Worth car lot employee during a test drive.(Photo: AP Photo, File)

Raymond Landry, No. 29 - Dec. 13, 1988: Raymond Landry, No. 29, whose execution was interrupted when a needle containing the lethal chemicals popped out of his arm. Prison technicians re-inserted it and Landry died. It was the first of two such needle "blowouts" in the death chamber. Landry was condemned for the fatal shooting of Kosmas Prittis, a Houston restaurant owner, during a robbery. (Photo: AP Photo/Texas Department of Criminal Justice, File)

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Raymond Landry, No. 29 - Dec. 13, 1988: Raymond Landry, No. 29, whose execution was interrupted when a needle containing the lethal chemicals popped out of his arm. Prison technicians re-inserted it and Landry died. It was the first of two such needle "blowouts" in the death chamber. Landry was condemned for the fatal shooting of Kosmas Prittis, a Houston restaurant owner, during a robbery. (Photo: AP Photo/Texas Department of Criminal Justice, File)

Leo Jenkins, No. 105 - Feb. 9, 1996: Leo Jenkins, No. 105, whose execution was the first in Texas where relatives or friends of the murder victims in the case were allowed to witness the punishment. Victims' rights supporters had pushed for the change after earlier executions in Texas allowed only friends or relatives of the prisoner to be present. Jenkins was convicted of killing Mark Kelley and his sister, Kara Voss, during a robbery at their family-owned pawn shop in Houston. Their parents were among those watching Jenkins die. (Photo: AP Photo/Texas Department of Criminal Justice, File)

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Leo Jenkins, No. 105 - Feb. 9, 1996: Leo Jenkins, No. 105, whose execution was the first in Texas where relatives or friends of the murder victims in the case were allowed to witness the punishment. Victims' rights supporters had pushed for the change after earlier executions in Texas allowed only friends or relatives of the prisoner to be present. Jenkins was convicted of killing Mark Kelley and his sister, Kara Voss, during a robbery at their family-owned pawn shop in Houston. Their parents were among those watching Jenkins die. (Photo: AP Photo/Texas Department of Criminal Justice, File)

Karla Tucker, No. 145 - Feb. 3, 1998: Karla Tucker, No. 145, the first woman executed in Texas since the Civil War. Tucker's born-again-Christian conversion and persuasive TV interviews sparked debate over whether her redemption should justify commuting her sentence to life. Tucker was convicted of using a pickax to kill Jerry Lynn Dean during a burglary of his Houston apartment. A woman with Dean also was killed. On a tape recording played at her trial, Tucker said she had an orgasm each time she swung the ax into their bodies. (Photo: AP Photo/The Houston Chronicle/Ben Desoto, File)

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Karla Tucker, No. 145 - Feb. 3, 1998: Karla Tucker, No. 145, the first woman executed in Texas since the Civil War. Tucker's born-again-Christian conversion and persuasive TV interviews sparked debate over whether her redemption should justify commuting her sentence to life. Tucker was convicted of using a pickax to kill Jerry Lynn Dean during a burglary of his Houston apartment. A woman with Dean also was killed. On a tape recording played at her trial, Tucker said she had an orgasm each time she swung the ax into their bodies. (Photo: AP Photo/The Houston Chronicle/Ben Desoto, File)

Ponchai Wilkerson, No. 210 - March 14, 2000: Ponchai Wilkerson, No. 210, who stunned prison officials when, after declining to make a final statement, he spit out a handcuff key he had hidden in his mouth. Wilkerson had been convicted of the fatal shooting of a Houston jewelry store employee, Chung Myong Yi, during a robbery. (Photo: AP Photo/Texas Department of Criminal Justice, File)

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Ponchai Wilkerson, No. 210 - March 14, 2000: Ponchai Wilkerson, No. 210, who stunned prison officials when, after declining to make a final statement, he spit out a handcuff key he had hidden in his mouth. Wilkerson had been convicted of the fatal shooting of a Houston jewelry store employee, Chung Myong Yi, during a robbery. (Photo: AP Photo/Texas Department of Criminal Justice, File)

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Gary Graham, No. 222 - June 22, 2000: Gary Graham, No. 222, whose loud claims of innocence and racism brought robed Ku Klux Klansmen and gun-toting Black Panthers to Huntsville. The two groups had a tense stand-off while Texas state troopers in riot gear watched. Graham ranted at length in the death chamber that he was being lynched. He had been convicted of killing an Arizona man, Bobby Lambert, during a robbery outside a Houston supermarket. (Photo: AP Photo/Texas Department of Criminal Justice, File)

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Gary Graham, No. 222 - June 22, 2000: Gary Graham, No. 222, whose loud claims of innocence and racism brought robed Ku Klux Klansmen and gun-toting Black Panthers to Huntsville. The two groups had a tense stand-off while Texas state troopers in riot gear watched. Graham ranted at length in the death chamber that he was being lynched. He had been convicted of killing an Arizona man, Bobby Lambert, during a robbery outside a Houston supermarket. (Photo: AP Photo/Texas Department of Criminal Justice, File)

Cameron Todd Willingham, No. 320 - Feb. 17, 2004: Cameron Todd Willingham, No. 320, whose arson-murder case became more famous after his death when a new investigation cast doubt on the arson evidence that led to his conviction. Willingham maintained his innocence and berated his ex-wife in an obscenity-filled final statement. He was convicted of the deaths of his three young daughters, Amber, 2, and 1-year-old twins Karmon and Kameron. (Photo: AP Photo/Texas Department of Criminal Justice, File)

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Cameron Todd Willingham, No. 320 - Feb. 17, 2004: Cameron Todd Willingham, No. 320, whose arson-murder case became more famous after his death when a new investigation cast doubt on the arson evidence that led to his conviction. Willingham maintained his innocence and berated his ex-wife in an obscenity-filled final statement. He was convicted of the deaths of his three young daughters, Amber, 2, and 1-year-old twins Karmon and Kameron. (Photo: AP Photo/Texas Department of Criminal Justice, File)

Angel Resendiz, No. 368 - June 27, 2006: Angel Resendiz, No. 368, a drifter known as the "Railroad Killer." Resendiz earned a spot on the FBI's Most Wanted list as he hopped aboard freight trains and committed indiscriminate and particularly gruesome killings in places near railroad tracks. He was convicted in the death of Claudia Benton, a Houston-area physician attacked at her home. (Photo: AP Photo/Buster Dean, Pool)

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Angel Resendiz, No. 368 - June 27, 2006: Angel Resendiz, No. 368, a drifter known as the "Railroad Killer." Resendiz earned a spot on the FBI's Most Wanted list as he hopped aboard freight trains and committed indiscriminate and particularly gruesome killings in places near railroad tracks. He was convicted in the death of Claudia Benton, a Houston-area physician attacked at her home. (Photo: AP Photo/Buster Dean, Pool)

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Kimberly McCarthy, No. 500 - June 26, 2013: Kimberly McCarthy, No. 500, the 500th person executed in Texas since the state resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1982 and the 13th woman nationwide since 1976. She was sentenced to death for the 1997 robbery, beating and fatal stabbing of retired college psychology professor Dorothy Booth. Booth had agreed to give McCarthy a cup of sugar before she was attacked with a butcher knife at her home. Authorities say McCarthy cut off Booth's finger to remove her wedding ring. (Photo: AP Photo/Texas Department of Criminal Justice, File)

Photo By AP Photo/Texas Department of Criminal Justice